Harish Rawat Quits Congress Posts After Cash, Gold Seized From Aide

Former Uttarakhand chief minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat has clarified on Saturday that he has not resigned from any party positions. However, he has indicated that if the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) actions weaken the Congress's stance against corruption, he might step down from his roles. Rawat clarified his stance in a social media post, emphasizing that his membership in the Congress party runs deep, stating that it is central to his identity and would remain with him even in the afterlife.

He described the recent ED searches in Dehradun as a "hypocritical spectacle" and expressed his desire to ensure that his actions do not weaken the party's fight against corruption. The clarification followed the ED's searches at the premises of Chandan Singh Jeena, who currently serves as Rawat's personal assistant and previously worked as his officer on special duty during Rawat's tenure as chief minister (2014-2017).

The searches were conducted in connection with a money-laundering probe related to irregularities in the 2016 Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission recruitment examination. Rawat reiterated his commitment to the Congress, emphasizing that he did not wish for anything associated with him to negatively impact the party's anti-corruption campaign.

This development coincides with both the BJP and Congress ramping up organizational efforts ahead of the 2027 Uttarakhand assembly elections. Rawat, who has contested Lok Sabha polls nine times, has been an MP five times, winning from the Almora constituency in 1980, 1984, and 1989, and from Haridwar in 2009. He was also a Rajya Sabha MP between 2002 and 2008.

Rawat served as the Union minister of water resources in the UPA-2 government from 2012 to 2014 and represented Dharchula in the legislative assembly during the 2014 elections. Despite losing in the 2017 assembly polls from two seats—Haridwar Rural and Kiccha—Congress retained him as its candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat, where he was defeated by BJP's Ajay Bhat by 3,39,096 votes.

In the 2022 assembly polls, Rawat lost the Lalkuan constituency to BJP's Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes.